


The Reply

by Lusewing



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-06-04 02:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6638101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lusewing/pseuds/Lusewing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looking for closure after finishing the game you write a letter to the characters. You never expected a reply.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> So Im posting this little story up here as well as over on my Fanfiction account. The chapters are small but seem to work well as they are. I tried combining a few of the chapters only to find the flow simply isnt right. See what you think ;)

A smile remained plastered on your face as you watched Toriel gently place a piece of pie in what you can only assume to be the middle of Frisk's new bedroom. Poor kid had been through a lot, pie was just what they needed to wake up to. You felt protective of the kid after being with them for so much. Then the gentle goat monster closed the door and that….that was it. A damp stinging could be felt on the edge of your eyes but no one else was around so you don't mind letting the lingering emotion continue. What a game, you thought, before feeling a slightly pang of regret that it was now over.

Who knew that such a simple little thing, that had barely lasted twelve hours could have such a powerful to effect on you. Even three days later your head is filled with nothing but Undertale. Sitting at your computer you look over at the little icon of Frisk looking out on your desktop. There wasn't much left to do today, and tomorrow would be free, so maybe you could hop back into the game and try out the 'No mercy' run you had been hearing about. But...you're not sure if you would be able to go through with it.

You remember killing Toriel that first time. It had been an accident. Nothing else was working so you had thought you would just have to hit her a few times and then she would let you past but your last hit had been too strong, it had delt too much damage...watching her death had, in the end made you see this game as something different. You felt for these characters. You felt bad, really bad. A quick reset had followed of course. Eventually finding out how to get past the sweet motherly monster without hurting her, that had been a high point, a proud feeling of achievement...until Flowey had popped up.

It had been a shock to see a character remember what you had done, even after undoing it, and it had made you feel dirty, Like a child hiding a mistake they had made. Like you had cheated. So you ended up working harder than ever to make sure not to hurt anyone. Even if Undyne and Mettaton frustrated you to no end when you had first faced them. It had been worth it.

Getting to the end the first time had been amazing. Just when you had thought you had seen all the tricks Undertale could pull on you Omega Flowey shows up and blows you away...in both senses of the word. But the actual ending, it didn't feel right. It had been an empty victory. So of course you had jumped right back in. The date with Alphys had been adorable and the lab...good grief that had given you the chills. It had taken three tries to pluck up enough courage to get their key out of the bathtub.

And then it all seemed to end in no time at all. It was one hell of an emotional rollercoaster, and some of the music still caused your eyes to prickle with tears just from re listening to it, but what do you do now?

Steeling your resolve you boot up the game again. One more play through. You didn't have the stomach for a 'no mercy' run but you were sure there were a few secrets you had not found your first time. Like the secret Lab Sans had behind his house. But the game didn't give you a chance because Flowey just had to showed up again and god dammit did he make you feel bad for wanting to rip away everyone's happy ending just so you could relive a few moments for some 'friends' you had barely known for a day.

You do decide to play through the goodbye once more, this time making sure to go round the whole Underground and say your final goodbyes. It was nice to see the amalgamates back with their families, as well as how happy everyone was to be going to the surface. You wish everyone luck, though judging by the end credit scenes everything works out fine.

And so, once again, you are left smiling as the door to Frisk's room is closed. You had made them all happy, you had given them the ending they needed and they deserved...so why did you feel no closure? Deciding to dive into others areas of the fandom you discover a wealth of fan-fictions and youtube videos. It was great being able to enjoy theories and story ideas but there was still that lingering feeling you just could not shake. You always wanted more and yet you also wanted to close the door to Undertale, to move onto other things, still for some reason it kept nagging you. It wasn't even the need to play the game again. You just wanted to...to say goodbye, to say thank you.

Sitting at your desk, the screen in front of you, you open up the notepad and start typing. The words you have wanted to say to each of the characters flow onto the page like a dam breaking, thanking them, wishing them luck. Even adding a pun or two brings a smile to your face when you think how much Sans would enjoy them and the frustration it would case Papyrus. You say how much you hope that they each get to achieve their dreams and you say sorry for what you put Frisk through. It felt good to get it all out, it felt like actual closure.

You wonder if you should sign the letter or maybe just type 'From the Player'. You could even type 'From an Angel' which would work well, though it felt a little pretentious. In the end you realized you already knew what to type and smile as the words form on the screen.

'From the legendary fart master.'

It was perfect. And it was done.

A week later however you find yourself coming back to the letter. It was just sitting there on your desktop. Wasn't there anyway to send it? Maybe you could send it to Toby Fox as a way to show how much this game and the characters meant to you, how much they had affected you. But you assume the poor guy had more than enough messages and posts sent his way from random fans, you would just be adding a drop of water to an ocean.

There had to be another way to finally put this all to rest. You were so close to being able to move on. Digging around on the net you manage to find a way to edit the game, just a little. It wasn't too hard to tag the note document to the torn notebook since it was already an ingame item but that effort it took to 'send' your letter, it felt right. It felt like proper closure, that you could finally move on.

At long last you could move onto other games and focus on other things, it was liberating. So much so that it was nearly a year later before you had any real thought about Undertale other than the occasional video or fic.

Your mouse hovers over the Undertale icon before moving back to the letter you had 'sent'. Opening it up for nostalgia's sake, you find yourself smiling as you re-read and re-feel all the emotions and memories you put down on the page. It was still there, the mark the game had left on you. But when you get to the bottom you stop. You rub your eyes, sure that you must be tired or something but the words don't change. Just below the last line is a word. Just one. Comprised of only two letters yet it makes you feel like the world has just dropped out from under your feet…

*ok


	2. Hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A diffrent perspective

San's didn't think he would ever get tired of sleeping in the sun. It warmed his bones and made his magic feel like it was floating on a golden sea. He wasn't the only one either. All the monsters were flourishing on the surface. Turns out magic, and thus monsters themselves, were suffering in the Underground more than anyone realized. Strangely the same could be said for humans. Without the magic monsters naturally gave off humans had become apathetic to life. Prone to sickness of both the body and mind. Deep in their souls they knew something was missing. So as soon as the surface dwellers realized how much each side could gain from finally coming back together the monsters had been welcomed with open arms. Well, for the most part, but you're always going to have a few bad apples. At their core they really weren't that bad a bushel.

The world was finally right. It was complete. No more fighting, no more struggles. Science, magic, medicine, knowledge, all fields were expanding at an exponential rate to a brighter future. A brighter future for both monsters and humans.

And yet Sans, the seemingly most laid back being in the world, could not really enjoy it. Not completly. At least not anymore.

A hope had blossomed in his bones those first few weeks on the surface, the hope that he was finally free from the resets and time jumps. That it had maybe all been happening because of the barrier. That lasted up until the moment he went from watching a new movie the kid had put on, to standing back in the underground with the rest of the boss monsters. The barrier still up. Sure they were out again not long after but the world lost a little of its excitement when Sans realized he was still going to be subject to the anomaly's whims. Kinda makes it hard to get invested.

He had confronted the kid, Frisk, about it a month into this current timeline but they were either a damn good liar or they really didn't know anything about the resets. Which was strange because Sans was sure they had been the cause of all this. Tibia honest the kid struggled to remember much of anything from their time in the underground. At least not while they were awake. But sometimes at night, god their screams would chill him to the bone. It was no wonder they wanted to forget.

His own memories were hardly crystal clear. One or two over lapping time skips were fairly easy to keep track of but when the timeline started to lurch back every few minutes like a broken record Sans was forced to try and ignore it. Who knew you could get motion sick from time? He was sure there was a joke in there some place but he had a feeling that if he found it he would be the punchline.

So time skips, annoying and disorienting, but resets were a different matter, and much harder to remember. Everyone has had a moment when they're not sure if a memory is real or a dream. Now try living your life like that. A constant state of Déjà vu. True, the surface was helping. Sans was even starting to gain a little of his motivation back without the nagging feeling that he had already seen or done the same thing again and again. Problem was that he could not shake the feeling that any moment would land him back in the underground and all this would be nothing more than a dream.

Of course that didn't mean dreams couldn't be enjoyed while they lasted. Sans had become a master of living in the moment and enjoying the simple pleasures of life while in the underground. He just wished fate didn't have to be so cruel in its methods to wake him up.

It was the kid again. Poor thing had been having night terrors for the past three days and Tori, well she was at her wits end. Kid had refused to talk and had pretty much locked themselves in their room when Undyne and Alphys had gone round to babysit. So Papyrus and Sans decided to try their luck, it was not much better. They would get a smile here and there but even Paps could see the kid looked haunted. It was only when Sans had taken the kid to the side for a soul to soul that he found out what had caused this sudden change - a book.

Frisk had barely wanted to look at the battered notebook let alone touch it when they had pulled out a box of junk hidden in the back of their cupboard, so it was understandable that Sans was apprehensive about what might be inside. What he found soon made his magic boil. His left eye twitched as he tried to keep himself calm enough not the shred the book back to the void it had come from. One thing was certain, he needed to get out of here and find a place to cool off and work out just what to do with all this.

"don't worry kid. forget about it." Sans tucked the notebook into his hoodie and smiled as he roughed up the kid's hair. Out of sight, out of mind. 

"B..b...but it..t..t said…" Frisk was close to tears again, but at least they were talking.

"i said forget it. i got this, trust me. there ain't nothing to worry about, just a bad dream. now how about you go tell paps that joke I taught you last week. he stained his favorite scarf yesterday cooking, so he could do with a little cheering up." Frisk wanted to object but thought better of it. Such a good kid. Sans knew they would need to have a nice long talk later but that was best left till after they both had had a good night's sleep.

Frisk was barely out of the room before Sans use a shortcut to get back home, his signature smile gone and his eyes dark in mental focus. Papyrus and Tori could handle the kid. Sans had work to do, because if what this notebook said was true then he had just found something directly linked to the anomaly, and boy did he have a few bones to pick with them. It didn't take him long to get in his newly built lab and set up a few sensors.

Opening the book up Sans checked it thoroughly but, unless he was missing something, only the first page that had anything written on it, the rest was blank. Everything about the book seemed normal. It looked old and worn but it was definitely just made of paper. The writing however was printed, not written, and not in any ink but in magic. So that pretty much guaranteed that the kid hadn't written this, willingly or not. Poor kid. No wonder they had been having nightmares.

Sans shoved his emotions to one side and tried to keep his mind analytical as he read the page.

"To all those in the Underground, thank you. Thank you for giving me a brief glimpse into your world and letting me not only share in your struggles but help to guide you all the the future you deserve. While I can't join you in your new lives above ground I can only hope that the world welcomes you and has learned to put aside its differences so that Monsters and Man can once again rule the world together in peace.

To Toriel, I am confident you will become the teacher you have longed to be and I know any child, no matter if they are made of matter or magic, will be lucky to have you. Though you might want to lay off the snails, for most humans they are more escar-no.

Dear sweet Papyrus, you truly are the greatest and I can only hope to one day get to try another of your puzzles. Though I think the biggest puzzle would just be finding out how you became so cool. Keep up with your cooking lessons, and maybe check out human TV where you should be able to find whole channels dedicated to cooking. Oh and if you see your flower friend tell him 'thank you' - none of this would have been possible without him.

Undyne, I don't think I have ever enjoyed getting beaten up as much as I have with you. You caused me so many deaths I thought for sure I was going to never be able to get passed you. You taught me the real meaning of determination and I will try and keep you in mind whenever I am faced with a challenge. That said, keep an open mind, there are different viewpoints than just yours.

Alphys, you truly are incredible and you need to make sure you remember that. We all make mistakes but what matters is how we deal with those mistakes. You have such a good and caring heart and I hope Undyne and you can help each other to become stronger together. Make sure to stay true to yourself as well as to others.

Mettaton darling, make sure on your path to stardom you don't forget your friends, those that have always supported you. When you are surrounded by false smiles, glitter and glam you will need those people to keep you grounded.

Asgore, give Toriel some space. You can't 'win' her back but you can move on and prove to both yourself and her that you have changed. If she decided to give you another chance it will be her choice.

Frisk, I'm sorry for what you had to go through and honestly I would have been more careful with your body if I had known it still had its original owner. I'm glad you're finally free, and have some of the best friends in the world. Honestly, I'm a little jealous. Thanks for putting up with me kid. Stay determined.

And last but not least Sans. Out of all the Monsters I met I think you are the one that kept me coming back for more. Don't sell yourself short compared to your brother, I'm sure there is more to you than meets the eye.

Skelly-Till we meet again,

From the legendary fart master.'

The inclusion of Sans secret password pretty much confirmed that this was genuinely from the anomaly, but coupled with the close personal manner in which the letter addressed everyone left him feeling cold. It had been right there, puppeting that poor kid the whole time. At least Sans theory had been partly right, but Frisk? Damn kid, like you didn't have enough to deal with in the underground anyway.

Sans immediately spotted the likely cause of Frisk's nightmares. Not only had the anomaly spoken so casually about possessing the kid but it had also mentioned about getting killed by Undyne multiple times. If Frisk remembered the jumps like he did then Sans couldn't even begin to imagine what they must have gone through, what they must be reliving when they go to sleep. And here this...this thing just says 'whoops sorry my bad' and thinks it will make everything all better. It was one thing to have a bad nightmare but quite another to be then told it had been real. Sans worried what other nightmares the kid might now think could have been real.

The good news was that the anomaly didn't seem to be malicious, in fact it seemed to think that what it had done was for the best. True for the most part everything had worked out fine but what's to say this would not happen again. The message that had been directed to himself was what really annoyed Sans. Pretty much citing him as the reason they kept returning as well as using puns to let him know they knew what he was capable of, he was sure this was not over. That said Sans did make sure he remembered 'Skelly-till', it wasn't half bad.

"So you want to play do you?" The skeleton let his eyes go dark before letting his left flair up. The magic written into the page seemed to almost dance in front of him in anticipation. Holding a tight control Sans let his magic pool along his phalanx before replicating the magic text and adding to the page.

*ok

"let's see what you can do."


	3. Knock, knock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone is knocking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doubled up this chapter with the next (which had been called 'Blue')

*ok

Your mind had gone blank as you looked at those two little letters. The font? Like you even needed to check. But it had to be a joke right? Someone must have hacked your PC and...and what? Spent their time writing an answer to a random word document meant for fictional characters? Maybe it was an easter egg? Yes, you thought with triumph, that had to be it! That crafty mister Toby Fox must have something coded to make any added documents receive and 'ok' from the loveable fourth wall breaking skeleton. You finally find the floor has returned under your feet and you can breath again. Wow, talk about going all out for a prank. You had certainly never heard of anything like this being found in the game yet so maybe you're the first one to discover it. That was an exciting thought.

Looking back at the page you open up the folder that contains it. The 'last date modified' is set to about three months back. Maybe there was a hidden patch back then? You smile as you look back at the document but then wonder if there is more to this easter egg. With the enter key you reach a few lines below the 'ok' and type out 'Sans?'. You almost expect to see a reply right away, but the page remains unchanged, even after you save the document and reopen it a few times nothing changes. Well it was worth a try.

You spend a little time searching the internet to see if this sort of thing has happened to anyone else but you don't have much luck. It's tempting to post something about it yourself but you don't really hang out in any Undertale community forums much anymore so...meh. It's more fun to keep it a mystery anyway. Games are spoiled far too often nowadays.

Three days later however you find yourself looking back at the document. You had noticed the 'modified date' had changed again and this time you knew you had not opened it during that time. Excitement bubbles up when you quickly scroll down and see another line has been added below yours. This time with two words. *knock, knock

This was fantastic! Best easter egg EVER! You didn't know how the developer had been able to code in something like this but he must have hidden it really well if no one had been able to find the list of responses. Not wanting to disappoint you quickly enter in 'Who's there?', a silly grin plastered on your face before you save the file.

The next day you open up the file without even checking if it has been modified. You smile like a little kid to see the response.

*urinal. You hoped the joke was not going to be a dirty one, Sans didn't seem like the type to resort to dirty jokes and it would seem kinda out of place. Still, wanting to go along you play your part and type 'Urinal who?' But there was a problem when you went to save. A warning popped up.

Dear Undertale  
Unable to register document.  
The document may already be open.

OK that was odd. You make sure you only have one instance of the notepad up before trying again but you still get the same error message. Shrugging it off as just one of those little glitches that happens now and again you close the file and reopen it. After all it's not like you had a lot to retype. Scrolling down however reveals that your edit had not only been saved to page but was no longer the last line.

*urinal lot of trouble buddy!

OK that caught you a little off guard. Why on earth was Sans so hostile? You hadn't done anything wrong. Unless? You smile as you realize what was going on, that of course he would be acting annoyed. You had added an unknown document to the game files. It might have just been a harmless letter to the characters but the game didn't know that. Honestly this was no different to the 'Dirty Hacker' ending you could get from messing around with the coding to see different endings. You had to admit it was a very creative way to get people's attention to the fact that messing with the game was not a very nice thing to do. No one liked the thought of tangling with Sans. That said...

'Wow Sans, I didn't think you would resort to toilet humor' You laugh at your own pun even as you type it but are stopped short when you actually SEE the text cursor move to a new line and start typing of its own accord.

*it only happens when something really pisses me off.

OK this is starting to get a little creepy. How many responses had Toby coded into this thing? Was it like a hidden chatbot or something? Wouldn't that have been too big to hide in the code? Then again people did have those things on web pages so maybe they weren't actually that big. Feeling a little less enamored with this new side of your favorite character you try and roll with it to see if things can get a little better.

'Going a little blue there Sansy. What rattled your bones?' You wait expecting to see the cursor move again but it just remains blinking at the end of your text. It was disappointing but it looked like you had reached the end of the script.

*you know about blue stop signs? OK maybe not. Perhaps it had just taken longer for the script to find a response to use. You had mentioned 'blue' so the coding must have pulled the information about the blue attacks. Wow that could mean there might be a lot of different response options scripted into this thing.

'Blue means stop.' You decide to keep what you type short and simple so as to not confuse the AI. It was going to be fun trying to work out what words triggered what responses.

*Good. keep that in mind.

You barely get to read the text before you screen freezes and a warning tone starts coming from your headphones. Confused you try to bring up the task manager with your keyboard but are nearly blinded when the screen goes black for a second before blazing a deep and unsettling blue. For a good minute all you can do is sit in your darkened room and stare at the blue screen as it continued to save and search for the error that had caused the crash.

Undertale had just blue screened you? What. The. Hell? You are used to the game 'crashing' on you, it was just how the game like to mess with your expectations, but to crash your whole PC? That didn't seem...safe. OK, so maybe this wasn't a real blue screen, just a fake one to make you panic. That made more sense. You try to go back to windows or bring the task manager up again but nothing seemed to work. It was tempting to hit the restart button but you were reluctant. If this really was a blue screen you didn't want to interrupt while it was sorting out your files. So you wait.

When your PC does finally reboot it goes through the expected speil of 'You have just suffered a crash' and 'Would you like to scan for viruses' all the usual things, which kinda ruled out the fake blue screen theory as you didn't think there would be any way to fake that. So it looks like it really had crashed. Weird. Everything seemed to be in order now but...you glanced over at the document sitting on your desktop. It was tempting to just drop it in the recycling bin and be done with all this. Your cursor hovers over the file before you pull it away and bring up your web browser. Someone had to have had this sort of thing happen to them before. You start your search.

But you quickly run into a deadend. There were very few mentions of the game blue screening but those you could find were either from people just having problems running the game, something you had never had a problem with, heck you wern't even IN the game; or from discussions that thought it would be a cool addition for the hardcore mode, which was apparently still in development. You guessed it could have been a teaser from the hardcore mode, though having it happen to you had proven to be a lot less fun than the way others thought it would turn out. Realizing you're not going to get much more help from Steam you close everything down and make sure to back your PC up before opening the document again.

It was all there. Not a line was missing. Everything was saved from the point of the crash, even though you knew you had not saved it yourself. The text cursor sits blinking at the bottom of the page expectantly. You wait for something to happen, a little worried to type anything else until you pluck up enough courage and press enter. Still nothing happens. Well this wasn't going to get you anywhere. Maybe you just had to avoid the word 'blue', or anything to do with crashing.

'That wasn't very nice.' You type and watch the cursor. One blink, two blinks, three blinks.

*hu? what wasn't very nice? you mean this?

"God damnit SANS!" For the second time that night you see blue.


	4. Pushing buttons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harsh words on both sides.

What the hell was going on? This had gone from a cool little easter egg to a full blown act of vengeance on your innocent PC. What was that saying? No good deed goes unpunished. That pretty much seemed to sum up the situation. All you had wanted to do was send a silly little letter telling fictional characters how much you liked them. Now you were fighting against some evil little computer sprite bent on protecting its game files from unknown sources.

It's takes another long wait till you finally get access to your system after the crash but this time you take the prompt's advice and quickly start a scan for viruses. Something was seriously messing with your computer and you were not happy about it. Deep down you didn't really think it would be a virus or some sort of Malware but you at least had to check it off the list of causes. The results...nothing. Clean bill of health. Which was both a relief, and yet also a problem because that meant it HAD to be Undertale doing this, or at least something in the files. You hit your mouse button a little harder on the notepad icon then was really needed as you scroll down to the bottom of the document. This time you don't hesitate before you start typing.

'If you crash me one more time then I WILL delete every last trace of Undertale. This is your last warning!' Again you wait, jaw clenched and eyes staring daggers at the text cursor. The pause was not long.

*welp, that took less time than i thought it would.

OK, not the response you were expecting but at least there was no blue screen...yet. Then again you were not really sure what you were expecting. Had Toby really been able to predict the sorts of responses people would have and code accordingly? Judging from Undertale he certainly seemed to have a firm grasp on how people might react to different situations, at least on an emotional level. So...maybe?

Your anger is starting to get pushed back and replaced with curiosity. As infuriating as it was to have your PC crashing on you it was also a little exciting to suddenly have something you didn't have the answers to. Plus, this was Sans, or at least as close to Sans as anything could be, so it was kinda hard to stay mad at him. You decide to play along again.

'What did?'

*getting you to show your true color.

'What is that supposed to mean?'

*that when things don't go your way you will naturally resort to the fastest means necessary to remove a problem. good to know where we stand.

You sit staring at those words. What was it with this game? Was it...was it actually berating you for losing your temper? The text cursor continues to sit blinking like a finger tapping on a desk.

'Sans I didn't mean-

Your reply gets cut short as the cursor is snatched away from you and starts typing of its own accord. Can...can it do that?

*but you did didn't you. you meant every word. you really would destroy my world without a second thought so long as it suited you. and all it took was a few moments of frustration to reveal that. it's fascinating how anger can strip away the lies. even those we tell ourselves.

This was not happening. This couldn't be real. You felt as though your brain had come to a grinding halt. This couldn't just be a programmed script, Sans was...the text was directly addressing you and what you had said. This couldn't be real...could it?

*what? you giving me the silent treatment? or maybe you just don't like being played with. being manipulated to prove a point. not that i would know what that feels like, pal.

You had to say something, anything.

'I think we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we should try again. Hi I'm-'

*sorry buddy but that foot of yours is already in your mouth. this is not something you can reset your way out of. Learn to live with your mistakes and accept the responsibilities. i've been waiting far too long to get ahold of you.

OK now that didn't sound ominous at all. Even in the game Sans could be scary but this...this was some straight up creepy pasta stuff. Before you realizing what you're doing the mouse had already hit the little cross at the top of your screen and you are exiting out of the save feature. The empty desktop stares back at you. This couldn't really be happening. It had to be some sort of joke, or hack, or you had completely lost your mind or...or…

NO! It was impossible. It was stupid to even entertain the thought that the characters were real. They were just little bits of data scripted to act a certain way and pull on your heartstrings every so often. Right!...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but we swap to Sans next one ^.^


	5. Nice day for the world to end

Sans waited for a reply with a smug grin plastered on his face, his left eye slightly glowing its twisting colours of yellow and blue as his magic hung waiting to be put to paper. He didn't think he had ever enjoyed dishing out judgment as much as right now but god did this feel satisfying. Well at least it did until the light at the side of notebook changed from green to red.

"Right, I forgot they could do that. Welp, brake time." The short skeleton leaned back in his chair, the structure creaking with the shift in weight, and closed his eyes. It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. If the world was going to end then it might as well be on a nice day like this.

Sans knew he was taking a risk. Don't poke the bear they'd say, or in this case, don't poke the all powerful being that can warp time and space whenever they feel like it, but tomātos tomătos. If they were going end it all then he would rather they get it over and done with instead of having the threat lingering over him. The rational part of him reasoned that by forcing their hand, by showing them that he expecting them to take the easy way out, he was in fact taking away some of their control, making them want to go against what was expected of them. That said Sans knew if he was being honest with himself, he was just tired and wanted this to end...one way or another. Not that he really wanted the world to end or anything. He would give everything to just be able to sit in the sun with his friends and brother enjoying their new life while it progressed in a straight line. No going back, no jumps and no deleting...no forgetting. His gaze flicked to a draw in his desk. Was that really too much to ask?

Sans rubbed his skull to try and shake himself from moping. The world was still here, and he had to continue to act like it would be here tomorrow if he was going to get any further with his research. God he hated work.

The notebook had proven to be the key. It had somehow become quantum entangled with something that existed within the Void. The problem was that he could not use it to get access. That ability, at least for the moment, belonged solely to the anomaly. Sans turned his chair to check one of his monitors. The amount of data he was able to gather each time the connection opened was incredible. So much so that it would quickly overload if Sans tried to gather too much at one time. That said, if he could just find a way to connect the void directly to his own systems then he might be able to use its own power to process and compile the information at the same time he gathered it. Unfortunately that would have to wait till he had a little more control on when the connection opened.

Sans looked back at the innocuous looking bundle of papers. It had proven to be frustrating at the start. He had been able to detect that it was somehow connected to something in the void but he had not been able to do anything with that connection. He had tried everything he could think of, even tried to track down the 'flower friend' Papyrus had and who the anomaly seemed very chummy with. While none of the monsters could remember how exactly the barrier had been broken one thing they could remember was a small talking flower acting in a very unfriendly like manner before everything got fuzzy. Sans got a very bad feeling when he thought about that flower. Unfortunately, despite scouring the Underground, he had yet to find a trace of the little weed.

Three months he had been at a complete dead end and then suddenly the notebook had, for lack of a better term, activated. He had not been in his lab at the time and had only been able to observe the after effects when he went to check on things. It had been surprising to see his own name written on the page, even more so when he realized that he would be able to use the notebook to directly communicate with the anomaly.

Access had been short and random at first but Sans quickly found out that the book gave off a large amount of energy when it became active - and that energy was active on all parts of the notebook, whether they were attached to the main body or not. All he needed was a piece and he instantly knew when the connection opened. You could even go as far as calling it his new - pager.

The anomaly itself...that was proving a little more tricky to compile data on.

He didn't have much to go on but Sans could be pretty sure on a few facts about it. Firstly, and most importantly, they did have emotions. If the anomaly had been nothing more than a soulless entity bent of analyzing every variable and outcome of this world then everything he was trying to do would have been pointless.

Second, they cared about his world and the people in it. Sans was not really sure how far this went. Was it the care someone would show for a pet? Or maybe a favorite book? It certainly didn't go too far if they could so quickly jump to ending it all.

Most of this data however had been from the initial 'letter'. All he had been able to gauge from recent contact was that it had a sense of humor...and a short temper. The humor part was a pleasant surprise really, the temper on the other hand, less so. The anomaly clearly saw themselves as a friend to everyone important in Sans's life. Actually that was wrong. It was everyone important to Frisk's life, which had made Sans wonder if the anomaly had been sharing the kid's emotions as well as their body. That little theory could more or less be put to rest now. He still wanted to know just how much of the kid down in the Underground had been Frisk and how much had been the anomaly.

Sans had talked to Frisk about the notebook only twice during those three months nothing had happened. It had been...rough for the kid to open up. They clearly didn't want to talk about it, heck poor thing didn't really understand it themselves, but they said they felt better to have someone to talk to. It hurt Sans the the core too see Frisk flinch or tense up around Undyne but they were getting better as new, vivid memories overlaid faded shadows. The night terrors had let up a lot though Tori said they still had them every so often, Sans could relate to that. He had told them that sometimes he thought he was seeing Papyrus turning to dust right in front of him and he would wake up in a panic, so sure that it had been real. Other times he would see faces that he knew, call names he remembered, only to wake up feeling that a part of his soul was missing while the faces and names would vanish like dust on the wind.

It had been the kid's turn to comfort him then. They had hugged him so tightly and with such compassion it had been hard for Sans to not start crying. Instead, he had done something that was very rare for him to do. He made a promise.

"kid, buddy, you listen to me. i promise that i'm gonna fix this. i'm going to make sure no one is ever going to play with our lives again. you trust me?" The smile Frisk had given him at that moment could have filled a hundred monsters with determination and Sans had drunk it all in.

One thing was certain now. He would be damned is he was going to break a promise to that kid!


	6. Question

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again this is a combination of two chapters, 'Recycle bin' and 'The Truth'

You sit in your computer chair trying to hold onto some sort of coherent thought. What the hell was happening? Was Sans really…?

Whenever your brain tried to finish that thought it felt like it would stall and blank out. Things like this DIDN'T happen. Things like this COULDN'T happen. But they were...or at least they seemed to be…This was driving you crazy and, while you hated to admit it, there was a distinct knot of fear sitting in your chest. You knew it was daft to get so worked up over a few lines of text and a couple of crashes. That logically it was nothing more then the game having fun at your expense, but logic was having a hard time remaining in control.

Your mouse once again hovers over the Undertale icon but you can't bring yourself to click it. Undertale wasn't the problem it was just that silly little letter. Grabbing the document you drop it into the recycling bin. If they didn't want anyone to be messing with the game files then fine. Bye bye creepy Sans, have it your way. You pause for a moment before hitting the empty button. There, it was done. It was over. Letting out a sigh you laugh a little at your'e over reaction to what was likely nothing more than an easter egg. Well that was the last time you would ever mess with game files. Though you guess in a way the letter had done its job, Undertale was finally the furthest thing from your thoughts.

Looking at the clock and realizing how late it was. Debating if you should do a quick rounds on the regular sites to see if there are any updates you decided against it and shut everything down. Bed was just what you needed now. Feeling a little silly you reach down and make sure to unplug the power to your PC as well. Better safe than sorry.

Your head still feels like it's buzzing as you lie down, but sleep remains just out of reach. The letter and its responses continue to play over in your head. It had been kinda fun. Maybe if you had tried out some different responses things would not have spiraled out of control. After laying there for a little while you try and get your thoughts settled.

"It's over. No more Undertale, no more letter. Just sleep and forget about it." That was easier said than done but you do eventually drift off.

When morning comes you still feel groggy but that had as much to do with the late night as it did anything else. Glancing over at your PC you find yourself reluctant to turn it on. It would be a waste of time anyway since you had to head out in a bit. A day without your computer would do you good, and it would be waiting for you when you got back later this evening.

It was just coming up to seven before you eventually plug your PC back in. Today had not been too bad and you still had a lovely full feeling from dinner. Perfect time to do some browsing and check on what has been happening in the world. Your good mood soon drops.

The letter document is back, sitting in the exact spot it always did on your desktop, just above Undertale.

Nope! You refuse to over react. You were clearly tired last night. Maybe you had hit the restore all button instead of the empty button on the recycling bin. That's all. This time you make sure to pick up the document and drop it in the bin before hitting the empty all button. You finish it all off by checking the bin a few times as well as making sure the document is completely gone from your desktop. Gone and done...hopefully. Wanting to bring back your earlier mood you pop open Netflix and attempt to veg-out on your current series of choice. Two episodes in you find yourself struggling to concentrate and just feeling bored. You had seen the show before but that normally didn't bother you. Deciding a shower might help to clear your head to close your browser. Something keeps you sitting in your seat.

The document is back.

Nope, nope, nope! This was not happening. You knew this time you had deleted the letter, there was no way you had been mistaken. Looking back at your computer screen you head to the only place you can think to find answers - the internet.

You don't bother to do a search this time, you needed direct answers to your problem and so jump straight into typing up a new topic... but every time you re-read it and go to post it you stop. This wasn't going to work. No one was going to believe this. 'Help Sans is trolling me with a letter'. 'Help Undertale won't let me delete a file'. Bye bye what limited reputation you had with a post like that. Deleting what you typed you decide to try things from a different angle:

'If they could talk.

'Hypothetically what would you do if Sans was able to contact you through your computer?'

There. Simple, to the point and you didn't sound like a lunatic wearing a tinfoil hat. Now you just had to wait for replies. A shower was nice and certainly what you needed to clear your thoughts. The steady spray of the water and the warm thrumming on your skin helped to slowly the melt the initial panic. Seeing the document return to your files had been a shock, and there was no longer away to just brush it off, or pretend it hadn't happened, but that shock was subsiding and you find yourself more curious than anything. Yes it was creeping you out but it wasn't actually doing anything wrong, and last time you had used it had not ended in a crash. The problem was you could not work out how this was happening. You knew the basic ins and out of PCs but you would never be able to code anything unless you had a set of instructions or tutorial so it was hard to know just what was and what wasn't possible. Your brain pops up with the oh so helpful thought of 'magic' but you simply snigger at it. Sure, like that made any more sense.

You grab yourself a hot drink before you decide to sit down and find out what words of wisdom the internet collective could grant you. It was much of what you expected but there were certainly ideas you could try.

'Ehh. I think I'd probably link him to the game's TVTropes page, maybe, or copy and paste the description if he can't click links. He deserves to know'. - analytical_aerie

'I would explain everything, tell him of the game,the fandom, the art and comics inspired by it, and proof that pacifist rout is the only rout for me.' - deadlyswarm

'Uhh...dude, I'd be fangirling, then be like "Wtf. Okay. This is happening. This is really happening." before feeling like shit ad apologizing like crazy'. - MeechiesQueen

'I would totally nerd out the science. And make terrible amount of terribly terrible bad puns. And then totally fan out cause Undertale and Sans.' -Starryskys102

'I would have a pun battle with him, with the internet at my side, I think the favor is leaning towards me. ;) I would also like to see some unique jokes he could make, that not even the internet has! And take credit for it. lol. Depending on how he is contacting me, like what all does he know? If he knows everything, then I guess I would apologize, and find a way to make it up to him. Idk. :P' - Kinroth

There were a few longer, more indepth replies to.

'If Sans could contact me through my computer... I'd probably tell him about how amazing he and his friends were and how much they meant to me but I think anyone who could get the chance to talk to him would do that. Outside of that... maybe talk about my life and his. There are so many questions I would love to have answered such as how is Gaster to him? Does he even remember Gaster? How does magic work and how does the underground have food when they don't really have the means to access a lot of the food we have today. I'm a bit of an inquisitive mind so for me I'd want answers to all those questions.

I'd probably also apologize for playing with the lives of his family, even if the game doesn't directly connect to his world I would eventually have to admit that I'm literally toying with their lives. We look at Chara as evil but even in the pacifist run we're not innocent. We're keeping them trapped by playing the same moments over and over and while the rest of them don't know about it, Sans does and I imagine that would be painfully annoying at the best. Sans entire life is like a super long version of Groundhog day.

I guess what I'm saying is that if I could talk to him, I'd promise to never play the game again (I'd just write or do some sort of crafts so I could still be a part of it, don't tell him that though. I'm not sure if he'd be flattered or not).' - Princess Kassie

You stop for a moment. You had never really thought about how the characters would feel about you 'playing their game' but you could understand that they might not be in the best of moods about it. It was odd. When did you start thinking of the Sans in the letter as the actual Sans from the game, and not just some security easter egg?

'Honestly, if it were real, not just Toby Fox, I would feel so guilty. I played a second pacifist run just to get into Sans' room and workshop and to talk with Asriel in the ruins... Imagine realiving that much of your life just because some teenager wanted to see a few things?

But its not real, so all that I have to deal with is the guilt trip Flowey/Asriel gave when I reset...A game that doesn't want you to play it a third time, but I guess that is what we love about it.' - CoolSkeleGirl

You nod along with the sentiment about Flowey's speech. It had really hurt to have him ask you to wipe his memory along with everyone else's. It would be selfish for you to want to take everything back simply to re-live a few moments.

There were more posts, excited sentiments, questions that could be asked, as well as ways to troll Sans. There were also posts from people that had realized just how scary this sort of situation would be.

'Id be scared as hell! Sans is creepy when he wants to be. I would probably freak out, then try to find out what he wants to talk about, considering he took his time to contact you.' - Fern of the Clouds

You don't actually remember asking 'Sans' why he was typing to you and yet that seems like the most obvious thing right now. Undertale had taught you the power of simply talking and trying to understand your enemy but you had completely thrown that out of the window when you had been thrust into the situation just outside of the game.

Minimizing your browser you open up the word document. This time you didn't feel angry, you felt curious and maybe just a little humbled. This might just be a script, or a joke or some hidden little easter egg but...maybe...again you stumble as you try and finish that thought. You're not a little kid anymore. You can't just start believing in cartoon characters and magical worlds...no matter how much you might want to.

The document sits waiting in front of you but instead of jumping right into typing you re-read the 'conversation'. You had been right. At no point had you asked 'why', you had just made a load of jokes and then blown up about getting your PC crashed. Wow you sounded childish when you threatened to delete Undertale. You realize you kinda deserved the talk down from Sans at that point. Your fingers reach for the keys.

'Sans?'

*you expectin' some-bony else?

'No...I um. Why are you getting in contact with me?'

*i could ask you the same question. you did write the stuff in the notebook right?

'Yes but I never expected a reply. Honestly I don't even know how I'm talking to you.'

*good to know you don't know everything.

You were having a really hard time trying to convince yourself this was some sort of coded chatbot and not simply Sans. What was it that Sherlock Holmes would say? When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. So was this an impossibility or an improbability? Did it really matter at this point? 

'I wanted to say I'm sorry'

*you're going to have to be a bit more specific than that.

'I'm sorry I shouted and threatened to delete Undertale. Honestly as much as I might have meant it in that moment I would never want to hurt you guys. Everything I went through, saw and felt while I was in the Underground was beyond anything I would have expected and, while it was not for very long, I consider you all good friends.'

There was quite a long pause while you waited for a reply but you didn't try to rush anything, it would be...rude. Besides, this felt like an actual conversation for a change.

*i got a question for ya. how much of it was you down there, and how much was it frisk?

OK that threw you off guard. Technically it had been Frisk that had done everything. You had just guided them, but since you could have guided them to such extremes then how much control did you really have?

'I'm not sure. It was not till the very end that I found out about Frisk. I think I had pretty much full control from the moment they fell into the Underground up until everyone headed down from the mountain. Though I don't think I had much control on what they said, I could just push them to one topic or another. I really am sorry what I put them through. I just thought they were a stand in for me.'

*what do you mean 'stand in'?

Oh boy. How were you meant to explain this? You could just lay it out that Undertale was a computer game but you were reluctant. It seemed cruel.

'Well I can't actually come to your world so I needed an...avatar. It's hard to explain.'

*you got a habit of body snatching?

'What! NO. I didn't know the body had an owner, normally…' Your mind goes blank. What were you meant to say? Normally there is a body waiting for you? How were you meant to explain what you had done to Frisk? Thinking back at other games you wonder if 'technically' you had done the same there, inserted yourself into another person's skin. It gave you the creeps thinking about it. But they were just games. Right? You weren't supposed to think too deeply about the mechanics like that. It was just how things were.

*you just going to keep me hanging here or what?

'Sorry, I'm just trying to work out how to explain this in a way you will understand'

*try me.

Your fingers drum on the table. You knew you could explain everything pretty simply...the problem was explaining it in a way that would not leave Sans really REALLY angry. Despite everything you knew and believed in you could not stop yourself from also believing that you really were talking to Sans, that somehow Undertale was real. But what did that mean for other games? Was Undertale the only one?

‘Sans your world is’ You quickly delete what you wrote. Unsure if he would have seen it. Why was this so hard? You wanted to tell him, to make him understand that ‘playing’ in his world had not been done to hurt anyone, it had just been a game. A bit of fun to pass the time. But...you didn’t want to hurt him.

*my world is what? OK so he had seen it, well at least you now knew that whatever you type appeared instantly.

'You have computer games in your world right? I remember Alphys talking about one at some point. Well it's just that for me, your world is a computer game. It was all just a game. I didn't know.' You stop yourself from writing any more as your hands are shaking. It was just a game right? Games aren't real. They can't be real!

*so this really is just a game to you? Playing with people's lives?

'NO! I don't know I was playing with anyones life! I thought it was just a story, that you were all just characters playing your parts. I didn't know you were... I didn't think that what I did mattered.' God what was going on? Were you losing your mind?

*heh, nice try. you really expect me to believe that after what you wrote in the notebook? you knew we were real. maybe you were just lonely and wanted to make some new friends. i can understand that. but what gives you the right to manipulate us and our world like you did? and what's to say you won't get bored and want to 'play' with us again?

That was it wasn't it. Sans was scared of another reset! Finally you knew what to say.

'Sans, I promise there will never be another reset. I wrote that letter to say goodbye because, even though I thought everyone was just part of a game I still loved you all. I don't know. Maybe in my heart I did know you were more than just a game. Maybe that's why you and your world stayed in my thoughts for months after I closed your game for good. I'm telling the truth. For me your world is a game. I don't know how this is even possible but if I am willing to believe you are real then I think you can at least try to believe me. Even though I thought your world was nothing more than code I still tried to do my best for everyone. Can you honestly say that Frisk would have been able to break the barrier without me? I did everything I could to give everyone a happy ending. Shouldn't that count for something?' You wait for what feels like eternity as your heart pounds in your chest.

'Please Sans, say something.'

*this is...a lot to take in

'I know. It's not really that easy for me either. I didn't want to tell you but, you should know.

*i think i'm going to need to take some time to think on this. you going to be around later, i would like some questions answered.

'Sure, but... I'm not really sure how our times sink up. The first time you messaged me with this was about three months ago, is that about right?'

*yup, that sounds right. it's about midday for me at the moment. last time we 'talked' was yesterday, a bit later then it is now.

‘It’s night for me at the moment, coming up to about 10:30pm. But the time spans seem to be about right as it was a few hours later when I finished talking yesterday. If that's the case I should be around a bit earlier then I was today. So, about mid morning for you tomorrow?’

*sounds good. i’m sure we will have a skele-TON to talk about.

'Well see you then' You're about to close the document down when you see the cursor move again.

*WAIT

'What is it?' You do as you were asked and hold off from exiting as you try to think what must be going through Sans's head. A minute passes and yet still nothing more is typed. Was Sans OK?

'Sans?'

*nothing, it's ok. later.

OK that was a little odd but you couldn't blame him after dropping that bombshell. It was a little early but after the late night you had before, and the night you had just had, you could do with some extra hours. Tomorrow would be a new day where you could try to make sense of all of this. Together.


	7. Player Two

The light next to the notebook changed from green to red.

Sans held his skull in his hands while his elbows lent on the table in front of him. The glow of the screen in front of him cast his bones in a soft blue light, quite appropriate with how still he was at the moment. Even the air around him seemed to be frozen and waiting. He let out a soft chuckle, a whisper of a laugh that seemed unbidden yet unable to stop. Slowly it built in to a full release of emotion, loud and uncontrolled. His head fell back as he tried to calm himself and keep hold of all the emotions he was feeling. The most prevalent one at the moment...triumph.

"i did it...i can't believe that i actually DID it!" Sans closed his sockets for a moment before turning his attention back to the screen in front of him. His hands were still shaking slightly which made typing a little harder but he had to make sure and run diagnostic checks. He had not felt this motivated and energized in...well in a very long time. He knew it wouldn't last so better to make the most of it while he could. The results on his screen where looking good, true they were limited, slow, and weak, but the connection held. Finally, after so many failed attempts, he had managed to link up his systems to the void. It was barely a thread of a connection, but it was there. Now, even with the notebook connection gone, he still had access.

He really had been a numbskull. Sans would be the first to admit that. So sure that he just needed to make a door into the void. It had not even occurred to him that every door needed a mirror, a door on the other side to open up to. As he had talked with the anomaly all his test programs just kept coming back with errors. It was only when the anomaly had likened his world to a video game that he realized it wasn't a door he needed but a bridge, an anchor. He had never even considered of the possibility that the void was anything more then the space between the worlds, empty. That all the readings he was getting were from the other worlds or maybe timelines, or perhaps even from the anomaly itself. No wonder he had been making little headway in deciphering it.

Of course, that didn't mean their confession hadn't hurt. To find out your world had been reduced to nothing more than a game for some…'thing' to play around in would make anyone feel used. Sure they had said that they hadn't thought the game they were playing was anything more then that, but Sans was having a hard time trusting them. After all they had been talking to him for a while now and not once had they made it seem that they didn't believe he was real and alive. No, Sans was sure they they knew what they were doing. Maybe it just helped to clear their conscience to think of the worlds they interfered with were there purely for their entertainment, if they even had a conscience. At least they cared enough to want to listen to what he had to say. The connection would have been lost if the anomaly had cut off the notebook when they were about to. It's amazing what a few extra minutes could do.

San's thoughts were brought to a halt when three loud bangs echoed from the door.

"SANS? SANS! ARE YOU IN THERE TRYING TO GET OUT OF WORK AGAIN!"

"nope" Sans genuinely smiled. No matter what happened, so long as he had Papyrus, Sans could cope with anything.

"NO' YOU'RE NOT IN THERE OR 'NO' YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO GET OUT OF WORK?"

Sans made his way over to the door. This was too good an opportunity to miss.

"knock, knock"

"SANS I REFUSE TO BE A PART OF ONE OF YOUR SILLY JOKES."

"aww, come on bro. just one?"

"FINE FINE. THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW TO BE A GREAT BROTHER."

"knock, knock"

"WHO IS THERE"

"theodore"

"THEODORE WHO?"

"theodore's open bro, come on in." Sans chuckled at his own joke before turning his main screen off and covering the notebook with a sliding panel while Papyrus made his way down the steps and into the dimly lit white room.

"SANS YOUR JOKES GET WORSE AND WORSE. I HOPE YOU DON'T SPEND ALL YOUR TIME DOWN HERE TRYING TO COME UP WITH THEM." Papyrus looked around the basement come lab. It wasn't often that he ventured into this part of their house. Different coloured wires snaked under every desk and up the walls while notes and blueprints covered most of the surfaces. Ketchup and other condiments held down some of the paper piles while other bottles sat in odd corners or around the bin (though admittedly a few had managed to find their way inside) In other words it was just the sort of chaotic mess Sans loved and Papyrus hated.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?"

"hmm, you know. i'm not sure but i think i might actually be working? i could be wrong though." Sans shrugged. It surprised even him how much effort he had managed to put into this 'project'.

"REALLY? WOWIE! I KNEW MY GOOD EXAMPLE WOULD RUB OFF ON YOU EVENTUALLY BROTHER! Err what exactly are you working on?" Papyrus leaned over to a desk and tapped on one of the glowing bulbs, it didn't change.

"just testing out a few ideas I have."

"OH. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU NEED MY HELP FOR? AFTER ALL IT IS MY DUTY AS YOUR BROTHER TO OFFER MY SERVICES." The taller of the two brothers stood with an eager smile.

"ner, I got this bro. thanks though"

"SANS YOU KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING ON YOUR OWN RIGHT? JUST LOOK AT UNDYNE AND I! WE WORK TWICE AS HARD WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER. SOMETIMES EVEN THREE TIMES AS HARD!" Papyrus watched his brother fidget and pick at a couple of his papers.

"SO MAYBE YOU COULD GET ALPHYS TO HELP YOU. THAT WAY ALL FOUR OF US CAN BE WORKING TOGETHER...EVEN IF IT WILL BE ON TWO DIFFRENT THINGS."

Sans looked over to his screen and then back up to his brother. His smile growing.

"you know pap, you really are the greatest brother anyone could ask for. let's see if the girls are free this afternoon."

"NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! THE GREAT PAPYRUS ONCE AGAIN SUCCEEDS!"

As the two brothers made their way upstairs Sans looked back at his blank monitor. He could always rely on Papyrus but Alphys might just be the monster he needed right now.


	8. Over stepping

You wake up groggy again as random thoughts kept running through your head. Sleep had been less than restful as, while your body was tired, your brain just didn't seem to want to turn off. You could hardly blame it. Your basic understanding of what was real and what wasn't had pretty much been shattered. What did all of this mean? You were sure now that somehow you really had been talking to Sans through your computer, no matter how impossible, or how crazy, it was. No AI system was that complex, certainly not one that would be hidden away in a game as an easter egg. But did that mean that the game was real? In theory there were multiple worlds and dimensions, where anything and everything could, would, will and has happened but how on earth did that translate to suddenly being able to have a chat with a character from a computer game? Were you talking across dimensions or was the game itself a world on your PC?

You look over at your clock. There was still a little over three hours before you needed to head out. Maybe if you just shut your eyes your could get another hour or two. You had a feeling you were going to need it for your next chat with Sans. Slowly you feel yourself dip down into sleep.

Drifting back awake you glance at your clock again...you had only dozed off for ten minutes, this was really not working. Sighing, defeated, you get up and shower before grabbing some coffee and a decent breakfast for a change. Maybe if you load up on caffeine and keep your stomach happy you could keep yourself going through the day. Sleep would have to wait till tonight. As you keep yourself busy with a bit of tidying up your eyes kept being drawn back to your PC. It would be really late at the moment for Sans but...well if he didn't answer right away that would not be a problem. Nothing lost, nothing gained.

A mix of excitement, curiosity, wonder and fear rolled through you as you sink down into your chair and knock your PC out of sleep mode. You didn't even worry about opening anything else and instead go strait to bringing up the notepad. A quick glance at yesterday's conversation leads you to scroll down to the bottom.

'Sorry, couldn't sleep. I guess I'm excited/nervous for our chat later today.' You wait, but there is no answer. Sighing to yourself you can't help feel disappointed but you knew Sans was likely asleep at this time. After all it was still quite a few hours till the time you had arranged to 'talk'.

'Anyway, I've got to head out for a few hours but afterwards we can both try and get this figured out.' You are about to close the document when you notice the text cursor move to a new line. For some reason though, nothing is typed.

'Sans?' Maybe you woke him up, would that been good or bad?

'He's sleeping. Sorry.' So you were finally in contact with someone other than Sans? It was quite a different typing style to Sans and even lacked his namesake font. While the text typed out fast there was a fairly large gap between each of the words as they were entered. Wow...that. You had never even thought about talking to any of the other characters...or would that be people? Ugg this was confusing. Well, better make the most of this then, you just needed to handle this better then you had with Sans. Casual. Calm.

'That's okay, I thought as much. I've got to head off soon anyway.'

'I could wake him up. If you needed him. He kinda fell asleep at his desk. I know he can't be comfortable there, I have done it too many times myself, but I don't want to wake him. I don't think he will go back to sleep if I do.'

'No no, let him sleep.' Poor guy had likely worried and stressed himself into a frenzy after the bombshell you had dropped on him last time. So much so it looked like he had actually talked to someone to get some help. Or maybe this person, whom you were pretty sure you recognized, had been working with him from the start.

'Alphys right?'

'How?' Bingo!

'Call it an educated guess.' The nervous typing was the main give away, that and…  
'Plus I don't think anyone else would apologize for Sans being asleep.' You can't help but laugh at the thought of any of the other monsters saying sorry for Sans taking a nap. Heck, even Sans wouldn't.

'Oh. That makes sense.'

The pause that followed felt uncomfortable. You were itching to ask more questions, silly things like how everyone was? How were Undyne and her doing? What was it like on the surface? But...you didn't want to scare her and honestly, you didn't want to have Sans angry if you said something you shouldn't. Sans clearly tried to keep everyone at arm's length when it came to timelines, anomalies and now...this, so it would be better if you waited till he was around. That of course didn't stop the monster on the other end.

'Do you like anime?'

A'ww Alphys, she was such an adorable little thing. You guess sticking to anime would be a safe topic. So long as you got her to do most of the typeing, not that that would be hard with the way she geeked out over anime.

'Yup, love it. I know you love Mew Mew Kissy Cutie but what else do you like to watch?' There, that would be a safe topic and this way you could avoid mentioning anime you had here but not in Undertale. It would be intresting to see if it matched up.

'Oh well there's-

The typing stopped and you suddenly felt worried. There was no way Alphys would stop like that on her own when she was about to jump into a nerdy rant on something like anime, but that meant...When Alphys gets talking about anime they would get excited and when they get excited...

*later

...they likely make enough noise to wake Sans up.


	9. Misspoken

Sans jolted awake when he heard someone squeal. His eyes darting to try and find who was being hurt. It took him a moment to work out he was in his lab, mostly due to the fact he was not alone in his lab. Alphys was sitting across from him typing. No danger, must have just been a bad dream.

"alphys what?" Sans said sleepily as he leaned over to look at her screen before pulling her chair away. She stumbled over her words when she saw he was awake and looking not very happy.

"SANS! I...I was just...They s..s..tarted t..to, a..nd then I..I.." The poor yellow lizard monster was practically shaking as she stuttered and tried to explain. Jumping off her chair Alphys looked ready to run. She had done it again, she had messed up. Even after Sans had specifically told her not to respond to any messages that came up. She had never seen him looks so...worried. Sans never got worried. God he was never going to let her help him again. Maybe they would never be friends again? That would put a strain on Papyrus's and Undyne's relationship and that would mean Undyne would have to choose between the two skeletons she had known and worked with forever, okay maybe not Sans but still, and some silly little nerd. It was all crashing down. Why wouldn't the floor just open up and swallow her whole?

"it's cool. don't worry about it alphys." Sans waved her off, not really listening as she had her mini meltdown. Shit, he should have been more careful. What had they said? He did a quick scan at the conversation but it looked...safe enough. Quickly typing a reply Sans closed the document. The less distractions the better. Alphys continues to apologize, her hands wringing nervously but Sans pushed everything to the background as he watches the little green light glowing to one side. Only when it goes dark and the red blinks on does he relax and focus on the now panicked lizard.

"A..aand I..I know we a..a..re not c..close anymore, *sniff* well w..we have n..n..never been c...close,...b..b..but..I..I t..tthough m..m..maybe we c..ccould, i..iif we s.. " Alphys now had her head in her hands as she tried to stem the building tears and hide herself away. She had been on edge from the very moment Sans had asked her to help him with a new project. It had been so long since Sans had opened up to any of them and now she had ruined it. He was never going to trust them again. She would never find out what all of this is about. Her one shot to prove that she was not just a waste of space and she had messed everything up.

"alphys, ugh...you ok there?" Sans rubbed a hand over his skull. He could handle timeskips, resets and interdimensional beings but this...this was something he was out of practice with. "hey, hey i'm not mad. you er...just rattled my bones a little. you have to be careful with this thing, can't believe everything it says." Alphys parted her fingers to look at him and he give her an honest grin.

"D...do you w..want me t...to leave?" She sniffed and tried to wipe away the tears with her sleeve.

"what? 'course not." Sans suddenly realized that Alphys had taken this a little too far. This wasn't just a mini meltdown, she looked distraught. Haddent she been doing better after she started dating Undyne? Now Sans thought about it he didn't really know how anyone was really doing at the moment. Other than Papyrus. Had he really pulled away that far from everyone? "look alphys i need you on this. not only that but i want your help." That worked. Alphys was now almost meeting his sockets with her eyes.

"Y...you're *sniff* just s..saying that"

"nope, s'true. i never was much good with computers. guess i just don't have the memory for it. i know what i want to do, problem is knowing how. would have taken me ages to work out how to sync the systems but you look at the code and just seem to know"

Alphys was smiling shyly now at the praise.

"B..but you managed t..to establish the l..link"

"eventually." Sans gave an exhausted sigh. He had spent hours scripting the programs to try different methods of establishing a link. "it was more brute force than skill. throw enough bones and one of 'em will hit." He chuckled and the mood seemed to lighten.

"I..if you're sure" Alphys climbed back up on to her chair and carefully moved to the monitor and keyboard.

"ok, lets see where we are. Then we can grab something to eat and have a little nap while we run some more of the data. Should have at least another five to eight hours till our scheduled 'chat'. plenty of time so long as we don't get distracted."

*****Seven hours later*****

"Oh oh try that one!" Alphys stood next to Sans pointing at his screen, a big smile plastered on her face.

"hmm, kinda slow, oh the beat is kicking in now, nice." Sans let his skull bounce slightly to the music as a finger tapped on the desk in front of him. They had been at this for about an hour now after managing to get more access and sync up some more systems. Neither had expected to find a huge cache of music, nor that they would lose track of time as they 'explored'. It was an interesting range, some of the songs they recognized, others were completely new. They both wondered if this was a collection from all of the worlds connected to the void.

Just a couple more songs Sans thought. Nearly everything was synced up now so they could start properly working on things after his scheduled meeting with the anomaly. Though he was more tempted to shift to the name of 'User' now they were a little less 'unknown'. Plus it seemed to fit better since they clearly spent their time using the people, timelines and worlds they had access to for their own enjoyment.

The song playing reached a lull in the middle.

"hu? what was that?" Sans suddenly frowned when he heard a quiet popping noise that didn't seem to fit with the music. Backtracking the song a few seconds he tried to find the sound again but it wasn't there.

"W..what is it Sans?"

"hmm dunno, thought I heard something odd." Suddenly there was more crackling and popping. It didn't last long but both of the monsters held their breath unsure of what was happening. "could be something interfering with the system." Sans pulled up a few diagnostic tools but didn't have much time to run them when a very clear voice cut it's way through the air.

"Sans?"

The skeleton's sockets went wide as he looked from the screen to Alphys who was biting her lower lip. The yellow monster quickly grabbed a pen and note pad. Before turning the message she had scrawled to Sans.

-I think I might have hooked up all the audio system's, output and input-

Sans groaned as a boney palm met his forehead. This was not what he needed right now.

"err, hey there buddy" both of the scientists heard a gasp on the other end. "thought this might be easier then using that notebook." He might as well try and play this off as deliberate. So much for trying to keep everything under the radar until they were fully operational.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well people seem to be really enjoying themselves here so I'm happy ^.^ I'll try and keep getting a chapter out every few days. I know they are short but writing is not something that comes naturally for me. Fanfic writing is very much a way for me to keep in practice.


	10. Only human

Today had not been too bad, you would have still prefered a day off but beggars can't be choosers. The only real problem had been your inability to focus on...well anything. All you wanted was to get back home and on your PC. Talking with Alphys this morning had been..well fantastic, no matter how short. For the first time since this had all started you were able to talk to one of the characters as another person, without the mask that they were little more than scripted data, as well as not getting dunked with a load of guilt and/or aggro.

All you wanted now was to be able to talk like that with Sans, and maybe everyone else if you that was possible. You had given up trying to work out how this was all happening. Heck it could be magic for all you care. Right now you just wanted to enjoy the fact that this was happening. You could work out the 'whys' and 'hows' later.

Closing the door you dump your stuff to the side and kick off your shoes. Hopefully Sans would be in a better mood, after all it wasn't like you had said anything wrong to Alphys. Maybe that would even work in your favor. A noise catches your attention. Music? How was there music playing? You knew you hadn't left anything on and there shouldn't be anyone else home.

"Hello?"

There were voices but they sounded...off, recorded. Maybe you had left the TV on? Making you way over you realize the sounds were coming from your PC.

"hmm dunno, thought I heard something odd." That voice...it couldn't be...Moving quickly you turn on the screen, you see your music player is on but paused. What was going on?

"could be something interfering with the system." No, nononono. You might have never heard that voice before but you had heard the tone of it so many times.

"Sans?" You are almost afraid to ask. It was one thing to be able to talk to someone through text but quite another to hear them. The silence that follows is almost painful though you are sure you can pick out a few sounds, movement, a groan?

"err, hey there buddy" You gasp, a hand coming to your mouth as you try to not shout out. 

"thought this might be easier then using that notebook." Oh god he was talking...Sans was TALKING to you. Your heart is beating a mile a minute and you notice the hand at your mouth is shaking.

"Could you just...wait there one sec." Your voice is strained as you try to remain calm and normal, though you're pretty sure you failed on both fronts.

"err sure…" Sans sounded confused and maybe concerned? Maybe.

Just as you're about to walk away you turn back and carefully grab the mouse to turn off your mic. Nodding that you now had some privacy you find yourself moving almost robotically over to grab a cushion from a chair. Then, as calmly as you could you place the cushion over your face and...scream.

That felt...better? You at least felt like your brain was working again...sort of. Problem was that now your brain had rebooted it was running in overdrive to try and come to terms with everything. It was having a hard time.

"Oh. My. Godohmygodohmygodohmygod. That was Sans, that was Sans's VOICE! Shit. Fuck. Keep it together. It's just Sans. Fuck it's Sans. FUCK! Okay, calm, just breath, breath." You take a few deep breaths and close your eyes to try and stop the room from spinning. You had thought you had accepted that this was really happening already but hearing Sans talk was...well it just. This really WAS real. They were real. You pace around in a small circle for a while, hands clenched in almost a prayer as you tried to calm your breathing down and get control of your heart rate.

Feeling somewhat calmer you flop back into your computer chair as your palms rubbed over your face.

"err, you ok there kid?" How on earth could Sans sound like he was both worried and smiling at the same time? You might not be able to see him, and thankfully your computer didn't have a camera, but you knew he must have a huge grin on his face at the moment.

"I'm fine, just err...wait? What?" Your attention snaps back to your screen as you notice the control panel for you mic is still up...and its active.

"Nonono I turned the mic OFF"

"gotta say i'm glad you didn't. that was a scream to listen to. never knew my voice could get that sort of a reaction. heh heh." Not only could you hear Sans laughing but you could hear someone else laughing to, you guess it was Alphys.

"Oh god, kill me now." Your head hits the computer desk. It hurts and makes a satisfying thump sound but you still felt numb. This is it, this is how you die, out of complete embarrassment in front of Sans the skeleton. Well, at least it would be original.

"aww, geez kid you're ugh... making it really hard for me to be angry at you."

"Good." You don't even raise your head from the table at this point.

"I would rather you pity me then hate me." Things go quiet for a bit as you try to let the situation sink in. Eventually you lift your head and look at the screen but it's still just your media player and the mic control panel up.

"How are you doing this? How are we now able to talk?"

"err, alphys gave me a hand to link up a few systems."

"Is she there?" You hoped she was there. If anyone could understand the excitement of being able to talk to people that you had originally thought of as being fictional it would be her.

"Err...h..hi. Sorry about earlier. Um...I had to go help...someone with...some...thing."

Good lord she sounded adorable! You just wanted to reach out and hug her.

"Aww Alphys that's fine don't worry about it."

"gotta admit kid, you're ugh… not at all what i was expecting." Sans actually sounded unsure and at a loss about what to do next. Though you couldn't really blame him.

"I guess this is not really what you expected to hear from the big bad anomaly." You were pretty sure he was expecting some sort of godly being or something completely alien. Instead he got...well you.

"no, not really. you just sound so...well normal"

"Sans look...I know this might come as a shock but well...I'm human, just an ordinary human. No magic, no superpowers, no high tech interdimensional machinery. I'm just a human sitting at their computer trying not to embarrass themselves any more than they already have."

"shit kid...i really hope you're just pulling on my fibula right about now."

"Sorry." You really were sorry. It had only just dawned on you how much Sans had been working towards getting everything sorted out. He had been dealing with all sorts of weird stuff and when he finally thinks he has the person who has all the answers, power and control its just some gaming geek with far too much time on their hands.

"heh, i just can't seem to catch a break"


	11. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This could have gone better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a while to get this chapter out - been really busy with the family ^.^  
> Hopefully this is worth it.

“So...um...we should probably try to figure all this out.” That was after all why you had arranged to talk to Sans today right? Well that and you would get a chance to talk to Sans...never quite expected it to be literal though. This was going to take some getting used to.  
“Not that I don’t like finally getting to chat with you all but I am pretty sure this is not supposed to be happening.”

“alphys, want to give me a minuet with our new pal here?” You can hear Alphys stumbling over her words but she seemed to be agreeing as her voice gets quieter. It's only when you heard a door click closed in the background that you felt safe to speak.

“I take it she doesn't know everything?” You suddenly felt nervous talking to Sans one on one. Not scared like you would get hurt, just worried that you would...disappoint him maybe? You were not really sure how to describe the feeling. It was like you were treading on glass right now, but it felt as though Sans was the one who would likely get hurt if you messed up. 

“and I’d like to keep it that way.” San’s don’t sound threatening but he does wait for what you assume is your protest on the matter. He is really defensive and the sad thing is...that you can kinda grasp at the reasons why.

“I understand. So um...what should I avoid?” This was going to get really tricky if Sans had only told Alphys the ‘bare bones’. Typing was easy enough, you could moderate what you wrote down pretty well. Talking on the other hand would be a lot harder to prevent slip ups.

“not much, just keep a lid on resets, saves and loads. as far as she knows you were just there for the ride on the kid’s crusade.”

“Okay.” Well that didn’t sound too bad, in fact you were quite surprised just how much Sans would have had to open up to Alphys. Maybe the surface had done him good and had let him break down a few of his walls.

“It's good you’re being more open with Alphys. Do the others know?”

“no.” Judging by the sound of Sans’ voice you were pretty sure he was warning you as much as he was telling you. That however left problems.

“But what if Alphys-?”

“buddy, i don’t know if you’ve forgotten but alph is pretty good at keeping secrets.” Ouch, that was a little harsh, true yes, but it sounded like Sans had not really forgiven the current royal scientist fully for what happened in the true lab.

“I know but...after everything that happened and with Undyne and her are finally together, don’t you think it’s a bit mean to have Alphys keep another secret from her?” Not that you thought a little secret could endanger their relationship, it was more that you were worried about the stress it could put on the poor nerdy scientist.

“hu...you really do care about them don’t ya?” Sans sounded genuinely surprised, and, well, that hurt. How could he honestly think that you don’t care?

“Of course I care about them! I care about all of you. I cared about all of you when I thought you were nothing more than scriped pixels and I care about you all the more now I know you're real!” Why would this bone head not accept the fact that you didn’t mean them any harm. It was not like you have done a ‘no mercy’ run and other then that one slip up with Torial (which you had technically undone)...oh and that first dummy due to a miss click, you had not hurt anyone!  
“I just want to help.”

“ya sure that's all you really want?” You try to keep yourself calm as Sans seemingly tried to poke you into a reaction. ‘He was just trying to protect everyone’ you kept telling yourself. 

“Yes. Please, if there is anyway I can help or at least prove it then let me. Give me a chance before you start passing judgement.” You hear Sans give a grunt before you see your mouse cursor move and close the music player down. Okay, that was a little freaky.  
“Um Sans...just how much control do you have of my computer right now?”

“what’s the matter pal? don’t you trust your good buddy sans?”

“Err, sure but...um.” Oh god...this was YOUR computer...your private computer...with your...private things. You did NOT need anyone, least of all Sans, poking around in the dark corners of your PC. Nope, not happening.  
“Maybe I can help you find what you are looking for? That would be much faster right? I’m sure you want to get this over and done with. So if we head over here..” you try to move the mouse but the cursor is now having to work with two inputs and its causing it to jolt about. Right now you are at a stalemate.

“you okay kid? sounding a little nervous there. got a secret or two of your own you don’t want to share? maybe a skeleton in your closet you don’t want me to see?” Shit Sans, if only you knew. He was clearly enjoying this far too much, you could hear it in his voice. Though you were pretty sure he would not be smiling if he did find anything. Damn it! Where was Alphys when you needed her? She would know exactly why this was not a good idea.

“Sans, I’m going to say this once. If you start digging through my PC you are going to have a BAD TIME. Seriously, some things are better off in the dark. It’s nothing you have to worry about it’s just...private.” It wasn’t just the private things you wanted to keep from him, it was other things, like comics, you really REALLY did not want to explain.

You can hear something in the background...typing?

“Sans?” Okay, now you were getting worried...why wasn’t he answering you? Particularly after how you had just worded your warning you would have expected something. Suddenly your mouse cursor jerks over to some of your folders but as you try to pull it back you find you have no control, the mouse isn't working. You quickly try and pull up the control menu but even your keyboard seems to be locked out. He is looking through your files now. Mostly word documents but you didn’t know how long that would last.

“Damnit Sans just let me help you!” Still no response. You didn’t have a choice. There was only one option.

“Sans, I’m sorry.” You drop down and pull the plug on your PC, watching as the screen dies and hear the fans slow and stop. That did NOT go well. 

Now what?


	12. Powerless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over a year, but this story still burns brightly in my head. Expect a lot of edits to happen in earlier chapters since I've really improved in my writing. Guys and girls, you have no idea what I have in store for you all ^.^

“stupid. stupid. stupid.” Sans kicked his table only to bring his pained foot back and regret the action. Phalanges absently rubbed the bruised bones through his slipper while he continued to scowl at the screen. It glow softly in search of a connection, the little timer on the cursor flipping over on itself. Maybe by some miracle Sans could glare the thing into finding the link. So far, no luck, but Sans could wait.

A couple of soft knocks came from the basement door.  
“Um Sans? Are... are you okay? D.. do y... you want me t... to leave?” Oh right, Sans had forgotten about Alphys... some friend he was proving to be. He was tempted to pull away again, lock the door and hide till he could sort this out himself but, he needed help. A level head would be very welcome. It actually felt kind of nice to have someone to turn to on this.

“come on in alphys. err, i kinda messed up. could really use your help with this.” He let his foot drop back down as started another search for the connection. Maybe this time...

“I’m s.. sure it can’t b..be that bad Sans. I h.. have only b.. been gone ten minutes.” Alphy's gave a nervous smile as she came down the stairs. She didn’t feel bad that Sans had wanted to talk to the Stranger on his own. She was just happy to be included in all this. Sans hadn't wanted to do anything scientific with her for...well a very long time, long before the barrier had been broken. She felt useful, special almost, at the fact that he had chosen her to open up to, even if it was only a little.  
“Sso what h.. happened?”

Sans pushed against the table to send his chair back enough that Alphys could swing her own round and get to the monitor.  
“they um, shut down the connection. haven't been able to get it to re-establish.” The skeleton scratched the back of his skull and avoided looking at the other scientist as she worked. Alphys had a real knack for programming or anything mechanical, far more than he did. 

“Um well t..the connection is s...still there. Let me check where the block is” She switched through to scan a few more of the systems but didn’t seem to be getting any further then he had.

“oh good. i thought they might have cut us off completely.” Sans felt a little relieved as he pulled his chair round to the side of the monitor. It was actually quite fun for Sans to watch Alphys work. She was a lot less nervous when she was focusing on what was on the screen.

“So u..um, what happened?” Sans saw the quick sideways glance she gave him. He had messed up, but if anyone could understand how a little mistake could lead to very bad results, it was her.

“i... er, i locked them out and took control.” He tried to look anywhere other than Alphys. Just because he knew she would understand did not mean Sans felt any less embarrassed for losing control. He should have stopped pushing the anomaly as soon as he saw how defencive they got. After all he could have tried to access their PC later when they weren’t around. That might have given them time to hide more evidence though.

“Oh.” Alphys paused for a moment. The short yellow lizard shook her head and started to rub her hands together nervously.  
“I don’t t.. think that was a g.. good idea.” 

“what? they were getting really defencive.” Sans could see she still didn’t approve, and honestly he didn’t either. But right now he just wanted some reassurance that he had not over reacted and he had at least been somewhat justified in his actions.  
“alphys i know they are hiding something, i just need to find out what it is.”  
They couldn’t _just_ be a simple human, there had to be more to it than that. They had to be lying.  
“But what if they have p.. p.. private stuff stored in their files?”

“err, that’s kinda the point. you know, to find the stuff they don’t want us to find.”

“No I mean, well, _private stuff_ ” Alphys watched Sans, hoped he would understand what she was trying to say, but he still seemed lost on the matter. She turned away and tried to focus on the failed connection again.  
“I d.. don’t think I c.. c.. could go on l.. living if anyone went through m.. my computer.” Alphys went a very bright red in colour and seemed to almost curl in on herself. Sans watched in confusion for a moment before something clicked and he cheeks got a little dusted with blue. 

“oh, err, didn’t really think about that... really don’t want to think about that.” Being up on the surface meant all the monsters had access to the internet. Humans… well, let's just say Sans had added a parental lock on any PC Frisk came in contact with, Papyrus to.

“W.. wait, I think I have something. No? Oh...” The yellow lizard pulled back slightly from the monitor and keyboard.  
“I can’t get access t.. through the link. It's not a block. There’s n.. no power on the other side.” She shrugged before sliding her glasses back up on her nose. 

“any way we can change that? you know, power it from this side.” So far they had only been able to send and receive data, power would be a very different challenge. Sans watched Alphys mull it over, a claw tapping on her knee.

“I’m not sure, maybe?” Again, she shrugged. Sure, there was a connection between the two computers, but sending power? Even if it could be done, how could they be sure they didn’t send too much, or to the wrong place? If they created a power surge they could sever the connection completely! Sans watched Alphys worry her bottom lip. Leaning over he patted her arm.

“a ‘maybe’ has always been pretty good to us in the past. you keep poking there, i’ll run the numbers.” She smiled and nodded. They could solve this. Together. Then they would start working to solve everything else.


End file.
